Former Oak Park mayor is write-in candidate for his old job

Former Oak Park Mayor Gerald Naftaly has mounted a write-in candidacy against incumbent Mayor Marian McClellan in next month’s city election.

McClellan, a retired school teacher, is finishing her first two-year term in office after defeating Naftaly by about 200 votes in the 2011 city election. Her main focus has been to push for more economic development in Oak Park while dealing with ongoing budget issues.

Oak Park, like many communities, has been especially hard hit by a decline in tax revenues because of the housing crisis and recent recession.

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McClellan had been unopposed until Naftaly recently announced his write-in bid for his old job.
Naftaly is a retired financial broker who served as mayor for 20 years. During his time out of office he wrote a pictorial history book on Oak Park. He said he decided to run after the city filing deadline in May.

“I’m going door-to-door,” he said. “The supporters I had last time still support me and at least three of the four current council members support me.”

In a 3-1 City Council vote in July, with one member absent, McClellan joined the majority in allowing the city to issue tavern licenses for beer and wine sales by the glass to restaurants.

Oak Park was the largest dry city in Michigan up until then and the move stirred controversy.

“The majority of people in Oak Park are anxious for progress and support upscale restaurants in our city,” she said. “Residents I talk to would prefer to dine in Oak Park if there are fun places to go instead of taking their money to neighboring cities.”

Naftaly said McClellan has misrepresented his recent record and financial decisions he made as mayor.

“There were comments that I left the city with a $2.5 million debt for borrowing to pay for improvements to the library and community center,” he said. “This was all part of a bond issue residents approved and the new city council voted for borrowing for those improvements. When I was mayor we dealt with $5 million in reductions over five years. We made difficult cuts but we didn’t lay anybody off.”

Shortly after McClellan was elected more than a dozen public safety officers and city employees had to be laid off as declines in property taxes came home to roost. During her time in office, voters approved millage increases for public safety and to fund public safety pensions through a special tax rather than out of the city’s general fund expenditures.

“I walked into a city with a $3 million shortfall,” she said, “and essential services had to be cut. At this precarious financial time the old mayor (had taken) out a $2.5 million loan from the county for the library. That’s like you’re going bankrupt so you go out and order a new car.”

Naftaly said he was urged to run by residents while selling his Oak Park book and visiting block clubs.
About 25 percent of public safety employees were laid off at one point, though several officers were brought back after millage increases were approved.

Some of the conflict underscoring politics in Oak Park involves a $13 million bond voters approved in 2010 to build a new city hall and fund upgrades for the Public Safety Department and 45B District Court complex.

McClellan was against going ahead with the project while the city was laying off public safety officers and facing budget cuts. But she was on the losing side of a 3-2 council vote to delay the project last year.

Naftaly during his time as mayor was the prime mover behind the city hall project, which opened last month. McClellan had favored retrofitting the old city hall. From a legal standpoint, however, it was not possible to use money from a voter-approved building bond to pay for other city expenses.

City Manager Erik Tungate said last week the new city hall benefits the city and is good for its image.
Naftaly said public safety is the No. 1 city service that needs to be maintained, adding that more officers should have been brought back after voters approved to support pensions with a special tax.

“They need to start right now,” he said. “They have nothing budgeted” for bringing back more officers.
McClellan said she is proud to be endorsed for re-election by the Oak Park Public Safety officers.

“I’m working with them and for them to keep Oak Park safe,” she said. “When I became mayor we had to cut $3 million to balance the books. When I took over the city was in a downward spiral.”